The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) says it has secured approval from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to register 2,000 businesses with a 50 percent discount in the first quarter of 2023.
Mr. Shehu Abdulkadir, the Managing Director, of Abuja Enterprise Agency (AEA) said this at the Grand Finale of the 2022 Ugwumba Enterprise Challenge (UEC) in Abuja.
Abdulkadir also said that all the participants of the UEC would be given an extra 25 percent discount in addition to CAC’s 50 percent discount to facilitate their business registration in 2023.
He said that the discounts would go a long way to boost interest in business registration for young people and also encourage youths to embrace entrepreneurship.
“The informal sector in the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) sub-sector is something that has been a problem and in trying to address this challenge and to bring all SMEs into the sector, we approached CAC.
“We asked CAC to give us some discount toward facilitating the formalization of SMEs in Nigeria and we are privileged to say that we got the approval of a 50 percent discount.
“And in the first quarter of next year, we are going to roll it out, so we are to register 2000 businesses within the first quarter of next year.
“And we will be giving an additional discount to all the participants of the UEC, an additional 25 percent from what the CAC has given them,” he said.
Abdulkadir said that the discount was also a strategy to formalize SMEs in Nigeria and to boost patronage for the AEA FCT One-Stop-Shop for SMEs.
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He said that the One-stop-shop which housed all regulatory bodies under one roof for SMEs was now in full operation in the agency for the benefit of SMEs.
“As an SME you don’t have to go to CAC to register your business, it can be registered within 24 hours in the One-stop-shop.
“If you need your permit from the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) or any license from NAFDAC you can acquire it from the one-stop shop.
“Likewise the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the Nigeria Export Exchange Promotion Council (NEPC), the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), or any regulatory agency.
“You don’t have to walk to their offices, they are all under one roof and this is an initiative of His Excellency the Vice-President which we are very proud of receiving,” he said.
Abdulkadir said that the FCT was privileged to have a focused leadership led by Minister, Muhammad Musa-Bello who had been able to provide the necessary support to surmount SMEs challenges.
He said that the FCT had had a smooth ride in supporting SMEs in becoming job creators as it had recorded at least 10,000 job creations directly in 2022.
He also said that in the 2022 periodic review the FCT facilitated access to finance for SMEs, and access to grants to SMEs through its partnership with development partners like the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Basket Fund.
This, he said, aided the recovery of businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors.
